World Bulletin: Ukraine’s Orthodox Church Leader Dies

The Metropolitan of Kiev, who is the head of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, has died at the age of 78. May his memory be eternal!

World Bulletin reports:

Ukraine’s Orthodox Church Leader Dies

Metropolitan of Kiev Vladimir Died Age 78

World Bulletin: News Desk
The head of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church under the Moscow patriarchate died on Saturday, the patriarchate said on its website on Saturday.

The Moscow patriarchate has echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rhetoric on the Ukraine crisis, a move that may alienate the church in Ukraine, analysts have said.

“On July 5, 2014, the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, his beatitude Metropolitan of Kiev Vladimir, went to the Lord,” a statement on the website said.

Putin, who has chartered a more socially conservative course in his third term as president, has strengthened ties with the Russian Orthodox Church and boosted its profile across Russia.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church currently under the Moscow Patriarch Kirill is Ukraine’s largest religious body and does not recognise the smaller Ukrainian Orthodox Church, under the Kiev patriarch, which established itself in a schism after the fall of the Soviet Union.

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